


assemble with care

by torigates



Category: Parks and Recreation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-12-31 12:14:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1031604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/pseuds/torigates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben went with them to purchase the crib.</p>
            </blockquote>





	assemble with care

 

  
Ben went with them to purchase the crib. The motivation behind that decision was partially that April came up to him and said, “So, we need to like go to the store to buy a bed for our baby or whatever,” and stared at him for a long time until he agreed to give them a ride. Partially that he had nothing better to do, and frankly Ben was a little terrified at what they would buy if left to their own devices.

So Ben drove them to the baby store and they buy the crib that’s probably _not_ going to murder their child, and a bunch of stuffed animals and Ben can’t even feel judgemental about that because it’s seriously, okay it’s seriously just too cute, and April and Andy look really happy, even when April tries to yell at some poor lady, “What do you think I look _fat_? I’m not _fat_ , I’m pregnant you cow.” Ben explains she was probably just feeling happy for April. April stares at him like she doesn’t understand the concept.

They bring the crib and all the toys back to the house, and put it in the spare room turned nursery, and Andy said, “I’m _totally_ going to put that together later, babe,” and they all kind of forget about it.

For three months.

Ben wasn’t entirely sure how that happened since all three of them walked past the unassembled crib everyday, and they talked about putting it together at least once a week. Their conversations usually went like this:

“Babe,” Andy said. “We should put the crib together!”

April let out a long, drawn out whine. “That sounds like so much work.” Then, turning to him, “Ben, put the crib together.”

Ben sputtered some kind of response that went along the lines of, “No!” and then he felt vaguely guilty which was absurd considering _it wasn’t even his kid_.

It wasn’t even that big of a deal except for the times when Ben was genuinely frightened for this kid’s survival. He had to harass Andy and April to take care of themselves enough as it was, he really wondered sometimes how they were going to take care of another entirely helpless and dependent human being.

Every time he promised himself he wouldn’t be the one to take care of their kid it sounded hollow, even to his own ears.

So then April was eight months pregnant (actually it was like eight months three weeks) and the crib _still_ wasn’t put together, and Ben wasn’t going to go about suggesting that April do it because even though _it wasn’t even his kid_ , he wasn’t completely insane.

He wasn’t a cruel person. Ben didn’t want the still unnamed Ludgate-Dywer child (and sometimes the possible names that Andy and April threw around for their kid and it gave him honest to god nightmares) to come home from the hospital and not have a place to sleep. Ben just isn’t that kind of person.

One Saturday he sat down on the floor the still spare room turned nursery and cut open the large cardboard box and spread all the pieces out in front of him. Right, putting together a crib. How hard could it be?

The answer turned out to be very, very hard. The instructions were abysmal; just random diagrams with arrows and stick figures putting it together and Ben could see all the pieces, he could see which tab needed to be inserted into which slot, and he could even see how to get from point A to the end where the little stick dude was standing with a satisfied smirk beside the put together crib. He just _couldn’t make it happen._

The little stick dude was mocking him. He felt sure of it.

“Hey?”

Ben looked up from the mass of different crib pieces that were in front of him to where Leslie was standing at the bedroom door.

“Hey,” he said with a smile. “What are you doing here?”

She looked at him. “We had plans, Ben.”

“Oh,” he said. “Shit, yeah, we did. Sorry, I just--” he gestured vaguely to the mess in front of him that was not at all looking like a crib _even though it should_.

“What are you doing,” she asked, stepping over a few pieces and coming to crouch down beside him. She picked up the instructions and examined them.

“I’m _trying_ to put this crib together for Andy and April.”

Leslie nodded, still studying the instructions. “Well,” she said after a minute and looked back up at him. “This seems simple enough.”

“That’s where they get you,” Ben said. “Sure, it _seems_ simple, but once you try to actually make thing go together they just.... won’t.” He looked down dejected.

Leslie leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re adorable,” she said.

Ben laughed, because well the only other option was to take a hammer and smash every until he felt better.

Leslie picked up two big pieces and put them beside each other, fiddling with something that he couldn’t quite make out.

“Yeah,” Ben said. “I tried that, they’re supposed to snap together somehow but I just couldn’t--”

He stopped talking when he heard a loud snap. Leslie grinned.

“How did you--what did you--how did you?”

She grinned again, and climbed over his lap to reach for another piece that she apparently needed. “Like I said, simple.”

It turned out that _Leslie was magic_.

Ben watched her, a combination of awed and jealous as she methodically put the entire crib together by herself in under twenty minutes.

“Okay,” Ben said when she was done. She was standing next to the crib, the same self-satisfied smile on her fact as that jerk of a stick man from the instructions. It really wasn’t fair. “ _How did you do that_?” he asked. “I’ve been trying for two hours and you just come in here and,” he trailed off.

Leslie shrugged.

“That’s really unfair,” Ben said again.

She laughed and walked over to him, putting her arms around his waist. “You should have just called me earlier, then you would have been ready for our date.”

He winced. “I’m sorry. I just--slipped my mind. I think I descended in a black hole of rage and frustration.”

She hugged him. “It’s okay.”

“Come on,” he said, ushering her out of the room. “Let me make you dinner.”

“Seems like a fair trade,” she said with a grin. He leaned down and kissed her.


End file.
